How much do you spend per ride/per year riding dirt bikes?

[MXR]

Hey Thumpertalk,

Has anyone else added up how much they spend per ride or per year to ride dirt bikes? When I was younger, back in the late 80’s, a guy who rode a lot and was a motorcycle mechanic told me it cost around $50 per ride. I started thinking recently, how much do I spend now? My usual ride timr is around 3-4 hours, and I go around 20-25 times a year. Before, I share my estimated costs, I’m curious how much you guys spend.

Just gas, premix, wear and tear parts, gear, park or trail fees, and cost/depreciation on your bike or bikes. Let’s keep travel expenses out, because that can vary greatly for each one of us. How much per ride or per year do you spend?

[seer]

I cant imagine 50$ a ride in the 80s. ? 

[mixgashaulbass]

Hey Thumpertalk,
Has anyone else added up how much they spend per ride or per year to ride dirt bikes? When I was younger, back in the late 80’s, a guy who rode a lot and was a motorcycle mechanic told me it cost around $50 per ride. I started thinking recently, how much do I spend now? My usual ride timr is around 3-4 hours, and I go around 20-25 times a year. Before, I share my estimated costs, I’m curious how much you guys spend.
Just gas, premix, wear and tear parts, gear, park or trail fees, and cost/depreciation on your bike or bikes. Let’s keep travel expenses out, because that can vary greatly for each one of us. How much per ride or per year do you spend?

The way I do it the hobby pays for itself completely. I usually even make a couple Grand or so a year. I have been buying selling and trading bikes/quads for years and have tons of fun doing so. That being said I usually make upwards of $400 per machine that I flip. At any time I will usually have 2/3 bikes in my garage with the sole purpose of flipping them. This completely pays for my gas/tires/top ends/gear/gas for my truck and any expenses that come with dirt/street riding. I have another job that pays for other expenses but I haven't lost a dime riding bikes. I've just made some money and honed my mechanical skills in the mean time.

[mixgashaulbass]

Also, I ride constantly. I live on a lot of land so I ride pretty much every day

[MXR]

The way I do it the hobby pays for itself completely. I usually even make a couple Grand or so a year. I have been buying selling and trading bikes/quads for years and have tons of fun doing so. That being said I usually make upwards of $400 per machine that I flip. At any time I will usually have 2/3 bikes in my garage with the sole purpose of flipping them. This completely pays for my gas/tires/top ends/gear/gas for my truck and any expenses that come with dirt/street riding. I have another job that pays for other expenses but I haven't lost a dime riding bikes. I've just made some money and honed my mechanical skills in the mean time.

That’s awesome. I used to do that when I was in late high school and early college to fund my riding. That’s why I had so many bikes. I didn’t make any money, but I also didn’t lose. I would buy them cheap, ride them, ride them up a bit, then sell them when the season was over and start over. Now, I don’t have a lot of time. However, I occasionally will see a steal of a deal on a bike that I don’t necessarily want but I know it could make some money . I might start doing that again. I enjoy hunting craigslist and Facebook market Place for bikes.

[Into the sunset]

This has been covered here before but I’ll break it down again:

1) what you spend on bikes & gear.

2) what you spend on bikes, gear, parts, tires, truck, gas, oil, meals, hotels, Supercross tickets, casual wear, food coming home from the track, memberships, licences, track fees, race fees...

3) what you tell your wife you spend. 

It’s really only number 3 that matters!

[MXR]

I cant imagine 50$ a ride in the 80s. ? 

I personally thought it was high too. But, I was a poor kid who flipped dirt bikes to pay for my riding habit. Bought one for $500 and rode it for a few months, put a new tire on it and cleaned it up and sold it for $700 to get my money back. Then bought another one and so on. Now that I have money I spend money on things I probably don’t need and lose money on bikes lol

[TheSlayer]

I cant imagine 50$ a ride in the 80s. ? 

Yeah, that's way high unless he's counting 4 days at once. 20-25gal of fuel? My cheapest example: drive 20-25 miles to the trails nearby & use up a couple tanks of gas in 1 day. Boom, $20 give or take for 8+ hrs of fun. Even factoring in some maintenance or travel, going to the theaters is more expensive per hour.

[pat22043]

My main riding area is 100 miles from my house. Every time I ride, its 200 miles on my truck and trailer. $35 in gas alone. Add in maintenance on the truck and trailer, insurance, tags and taxes and tolls, and it has to be $50 a trip. At roughly 50 trips, that is $2500 direct for the truck, not counting purchase price, depreciation, etc.

 I do about 150 hours a year on my enduro bike, go thru 3 rear tires and two fronts, a set of sprockets and chain, etc. While it would be cheaper if I did all maintenance on the KTM myself, I've had the dealer do some major stuff, and spent $2000 for top-end, suspension, and assorted minor stuff.

Add helmets, gloves, google, etc. and its easily another grand.

We're up to $5,500 direct spending. There has to be another grand in hotel, restaurant, permits for trips to places like Hatfield-McCoy (which is 500 miles each way).

In the past two years, I've bought a new KTM 300, call it $11,000, and a Beta 200 trials bike, call it $7,000.

Sure glad that dirt bikes are a cheap sport.

[Vish]

After wear and tear parts, mechanical rebuilds and misc. gear the rough math works out to about +/- $40 per ride. Worth it every time. 

[RichieGoatGruff]

Who cares????? I'm having fun and NOT AT WORK!

 

Once you start thinking about money, it ruins the fun...

 

WHO CARES.....

[Flagstaff]

Just now, RichBaker said:

Who cares????? I'm having fun and NOT AT WORK!

 

Once you start thinking about money, it ruins the fun...

 

WHO CARES.....

Beat me by 30 seconds. 

Never even occurred to me to keep track. ?

[Shhhh]

My wife keeps track, I do not.  Last year she gave me an accumulated amount that I have spent since 2011.  I know why I don't have a cabin now, no regrets...

[mixgashaulbass]

That’s awesome. I used to do that when I was in late high school and early college to fund my riding. That’s why I had so many bikes. I didn’t make any money, but I also didn’t lose. I would buy them cheap, ride them, ride them up a bit, then sell them when the season was over and start over. Now, I don’t have a lot of time. However, I occasionally will see a steal of a deal on a bike that I don’t necessarily want but I know it could make some money . I might start doing that again. I enjoy hunting craigslist and Facebook market Place for bikes.

One of the best deals I ever had was my buddy had an 02 yz250f that lost spark. He told me that everything in the engine was new and I knew him good enough to believe it. I paid $200 (that's right 200) brought it home, took the stator cover off and the stator literally fell out. The nut backed off the crank and sheared the fltwheel key. A trip to the hardware store and 50 cents later I had it running great. The next day I sold it to my neighbor for $1200 lol

Sent from my Z956 using ThumperTalk mobile app

[76xtdrvr]

LOL. Driving back from a ride Sunday, my son and I were comparing dirt bike riding to other sports. He said sports like golf and skiing are considered bourgeoisie (he likes to use big words so I had to Google it) compared to dirt bike riding. I told him that may be the perception, but I know of no golfer or skier that spent $10,000 for their equipment just to trash it out every time it's used.

[Refresh]

A LOT! Lol

[TigerTanker]

15-18 grand. If you include gasoline for truck and bikes... toss in another $2500 

[TheLastByte]

I figure I've spent about $3000 this year in total for over 100 hours of riding, $2000 of that being the initial purchase price of my bike and most of the rest being mods and replacement parts. I can't Imagine spending tens of thousands on dirt bike paraphernalia a year. On the other hand I did just buy a ktm 300 after the end of the season, so I may be eating crow (possibly literally) this time next year.  

[Into the sunset]

9 hours ago, poldies4 said:

My wife keeps track, I do not.  Last year she gave me an accumulated amount that I have spent since 2011.  I know why I don't have a cabin now, no regrets...

If my wife did that I wouldn’t have a wife!

[Mad Mark]

between gas and food for a day trip close to a $100 I think. I try not to think about it but I added up how much I’ve spent on sport bike tires and it was 10k over the coarse of 4 years!